


i won't say we aren't family

by Willow_bird



Series: on the tip of my tongue (say something) [7]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: (no permanent damage... yet), Andreil from an outside perspective, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Major Character Injury, Neil gets hurt, POV Aaron Minyard, Protective Aaron Minyard, Protective Andrew Minyard, Protective Katelyn (All For The Game), Reference to Baltimore, Selective Muteism Neil Josten, Soft Aaron Minyard, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Wholesome Twinyards, andreil in love, reference to past abuse, twinyard bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:40:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25734442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_bird/pseuds/Willow_bird
Summary: Andrew is out of the state and Neil gets hurt. Aaron is the one who is called and he has to hold down the fort when a lot of things seem terrifyingly uncertain.---By now we've accepted that I'm terrible at summaries. This is angsty but it ends very sweetly, I promise. Basically, Aaron is being a good brother and realizes that hecares.
Relationships: Aaron Minyard & Andrew Minyard, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten & Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: on the tip of my tongue (say something) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782130
Comments: 57
Kudos: 653





	i won't say we aren't family

**Author's Note:**

> Please be aware that I am NOT a medical professional, so my knowledge of injuries, surgery times, and recovery times is entirely based on my skill with Google (remedial at best). 
> 
> That being said, warnings include: references to the abuse that Aaron suffered under Tilda, references to Baltimore (the violence and results), references to car vs. pedestrian collision. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!!! If you have any questions please feel free to hit me up on [Tumblr: @kiirynilcc](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/kiirynilcc) .

It was a Saturday night and Aaron was spending it in Columbia. Except he wasn’t spending it with his brother and the other monsters. No, on _this_ Saturday he had the house to himself _with Katelyn_. The only reason this was even _possible_ was because Andrew was out of town for the entire weekend with Kevin. The two of them were literally on the other side of the country so that Kevin could film some interviews for some kind of documentary about his mother and the creation of exy, Andrew acting as his bodyguard because the fuckhead couldn’t do anything on his own. They’d left on Thursday and wouldn’t be back until late Sunday night -- which would normally mean no Columbia for any of them. 

Except since Josten and his brother had decided to abscond away to the house once a month for… whatever it was they did (he really did _not_ want to think about it -- he figured that he was owed the same. After all, it was technically Nicky’s house but it had been his home as much as it had been Andrew’s, and still was. He could go there whenever the _fuck_ he wanted, thank you very fucking much. 

And this was an ideal opportunity. Andrew was out of town. Kevin was out of town. Neil hadn’t gone with them (shocker, right?) but he had no reason to go to the house without Andrew, and Nicky had plans with Matt all day on Saturday. 

Andrew had even allowed him to _use the car_. The _Maserati_. Sure, Aaron had a sneaking suspicion that Josten had something to do with it, but despite the fact that he and his brother’s boyfriend, partner, _whatever_ were tolerating each other better lately -- it was still weird as fuck to think about Neil doing anything _nice_ for him. 

That being said, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Last Friday was their last game of the season and next weekend was the Winter Banquet, and then they were off for the holidays -- which Aaron would be splitting between Columbia and going with Katelyn to be with her family again, so this weekend was their _only chance_ for potentially the next month to truly have some uninterrupted alone time. Once Neil had gotten back from dropping Andrew and Kevin off at the airport on Thursday, Aaron had even taken the car all the way out to Columbia so that he could make sure the house was clean and was stocked with actual food. It had been a bit of a bitch, especially when they still had morning practice on Friday, but the extra trip had been well worth it when he could bring Katelyn to the house directly after classes at the end of the day without worrying about potential mess.

And now? Now he and Katelyn were settling in for what was going to be a long and lazy evening. He was just about getting ready to start making dinner, actually. He’d meant to get it started earlier but they’d gotten a little bit distracted with each other and he _certainly_ wasn’t complaining. 

“Well?” he said from where he sat on the couch, watching Katelyn shamelessly as she bent over to peruse their movie collection. “See anything good?”

“Hm… I just haven’t decided if I want to watch something that I can ultimately ignore, or if I want to watch something I can get invested in.”

Aaron was appreciating the exact cling of her pants to the curve of her thighs and only hummed in response. What had she called the pants? Yoga pants? He was going to write a letter, an honest-to-God letter, to the inventor of yoga pants just to thank them for their contribution to humanity. Fucking _beautiful_.

Katelyn must have _sensed_ his distraction because she stood up and looked at him very pointedly over her shoulder. He feigned innocence. Badly, but he tried. 

“Aaron Michael Minyard, were you staring at my ass when I was very seriously trying to consider our cinematic selection for the evening’s festivities?”

“Um.” Aaron considered this. It felt like a trick question. Was he _supposed_ to be looking at her ass? In pants like those… well, and she was just _bending over like that_ and, well… but on the other hand -- if he was ogling her when she didn’t _intend_ to be ogled, she’d probably end up annoyed at him and Aaron just… Well, he wanted Katelyn to be happy. Always.

Her chuckle broke him out of his thoughts and he realized that she’d been teasing him. He made a face, then laughed as well. “Of course I was looking at your ass, babe. It’s perfect. I’d have to be literally _dead_ not to notice it.” He sighed, and something warm and bright that always sang Katelyn’s name blossomed and glowed in his chest as he just _looked_ at her. 

Something on his face must have showed what he was feeling, because Katelyn softened. 

She _smiled._

Fuck he loved her smile. He thought about it, sometimes, when things were stressful. He thought about the way her eyes lit up and how her hair brushed her cheek, about the way her lips always quirked up a bit higher on one side than the other -- not exactly crooked but just… perfectly imperfect. Her smile was one that said ‘ _I’m real, I’m here_ ’ and it warmed him in a way Aaron had never known was possible to be warm. 

That smile always sparked something in him and he had no reason to resist, so he smiled back, reaching for her and pulling her forward until she straddled his legs and then sat down on his lap, his hands resting on her hips. 

“I love you,” he murmured quietly when she brought her lips down to his without fully kissing him, just giving them an intimate closeness he always craved with her.

“I love you,” she echoed back, and he felt the words more than he heard them. Then their mouths were together and there was no space for words or breath between them. His hands gripped her hips as the kiss grew more heated, movies and dinner utterly forgotten to the touch of hands and mouths. 

_BUZZ!!_

Both of them jumped at the sudden hard buzzing in his pocket. “Fuck!”

Katelyn giggled and pecked him on the cheek, then leaned into him in a way that made his belly heat, her hips rolling suggestively as she reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. She looked at the caller id and blinked, pausing her seduction to tilt her head curiously at whatever she saw. 

“It’s… Neil.” While Katelyn’s tone was painted with curiosity and confusion, Aaron felt nothing but irritation. Maybe a little bit of murder. 

(Okay, maybe a lot a bit of murder.)

“Fuck ‘im,” he grunted, snagging the phone out of her hand and declining the call. 

Katelyn smirked at him, raising one eyebrow in a way that was just _way_ too devilishly sexy. “Really? I mean, I didn’t think he was your type. Can’t deny that he’s hot though. I’m open to experimenting if you are, though wouldn’t it be weird, considering he’s dating your brother?”

That took a second to compute. Then the shock, horror, and revulsion crashed in.

“What!? Ugh! No! No way! Katelyn!” Then, of course, his beautiful, lovely, delightful girlfriend started _cackling_ with all sorts of malicious amusement. Oh, she was way too pleased with herself for that one, and Aaron knew _just_ how to get her back for it. Using the grip he already had on her waist, Aaron twisted and lifted, half-throwing and half-tackling her onto the couch beside him. Then he was on top of her and her cackling turned to shrieks of half-hysterical laughter as he ticked the insanity out of her. 

“Not funny!” he reprimanded through a smug smirk as she writhed helplessly under his tickles. “First off, I am _way_ too turned on by you to be gay -- you are _all girl_. Secondly, even if I were -- _gross!_ I would never, ever, ever, ever, _ever_ ” -he punctuated each reiteration of the word with little nips to her lips and her cheeks and her ears as she thrashed and giggled- “go for someone like Josten. _Thirdly_ , I don’t share. And _fourthly!_ ” Here he finally gave her a bit of a break, pausing his relentless fingers to lean back and give her a hard look that was only somewhat ruined by the smile he could feel creeping onto his face (he just couldn’t help seeing her all flushed and grinning like that and _not_ smile, alright? anyone would have that problem). 

He lifted one hand to point at her, the other resting against her belly, enjoying the quick rise and fall of it as she caught her breath. “ _Fourthly,_ ” he continued, “just _no_.”

Kately giggled, the sound tamer now that she’d caught her breath, but no less bright, no less filled with her light. She reached up and took his accusing finger, bringing it down so she could kiss just his fingertip. “You’re too easy,” she chided affectionately, and before he could protest she got a sweetly wicked look in her eyes and then sucked his finger slowly between her lips. He knew she could feel his reaction by the way her eyes darkened and her gaze darted down to the telling swell in his jeans before it met his again. She sucked harder, curling her tongue around his fingertip like she was sucking his--”

_BUZZ!!_

Aaron jumped again and glared at his phone where it was now buzzing loudly against the hardwood floor -- it must have fallen off the couch in their tussle. He could already see the screen lighting up with Josten’s name again. _Fuck!_

Katelyn giggled and looked over at it, pulling her mouth off his finger and flexing her hips up against him in a nudge. “Just answer it. It might be important. If it’s not, tell him you’re busy. Neil will understand.” Her faith in the cretin was touching but not reassuring. As much as he and Neil were starting to come to an understanding of sorts, he still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the fact that the dangerous little nuisance was now spending more time with his girlfriend - that the two were becoming _friends_. If the foxes wanted to put their lives in danger hanging around that human hand grenade that was their problem, but Katelyn was a different matter. 

With an aggrieved sigh, Aaron leaned down and scooped up his phone, accepting the call with great reluctance. 

“Look, Josten -- this better be fucking important.”

The first thing Aaron heard over the phone was the harsh sound of wheezing and every muscle in his body locked up. Fear pooled in his belly, replacing the annoyance from a moment before. Katelyn picked up on his tension - or maybe it was the look on his face -- because she suddenly wasn’t smiling anymore either. She pushed up to her elbows and watched him in concern. 

“Neil?” he asked after a moment without getting any sort of response from the other line, ignoring the sound of concern in his own voice. 

“Can… you and Katelyn meet… meet me at the hospital?” Neil’s voice was rough and forced, like it was being pulled syllable by syllable from the roots beneath his teeth. 

Aaron pulled fully away from Katelyn, sitting stiffly. “The hospital? What the actual fuck is going on Josten? Why do you need us to meet you at the hospital?”

There was some kind of murmur in the background of the call, then a shuffling and a new voice came over the line, low and calm and feminine. “Hello? My name is Laura, I’m an EMT. Mr. Josten was involved in an accident and we’re currently loading him into an ambulance to the McLeod Darlington Medical Hospital.”

There was something tight and angry and inexplicably _worried_ that seized in the middle of Aaron’s chest, which didn’t make any fucking sense because he didn’t care about Neil, not really. Neil was a health hazard to anyone within a hundred-foot radius of his dumbassery. But Neil was important to Andrew, and Neil was a friend of Katelyn’s, and Neil… fuck, Neil had called _him?_

He didn’t have the time (or the fucking mental capacity right now) to analyze the hows and the whys of _that_ so he pushed it away, instead focusing on the calm, focused tone of the EMT on the line. 

“We’re on our way. How hurt is he? What the fuck happened?” He stood, and when he looked around for his shoes he realized that Katelyn had already grabbed them. He shot her a tight, grateful smile and shoved his shoes into them while she finished tying her own. Then, because she was a fucking saint, Katelyn also grabbed his coat and fished out the keys. 

“Right now we’re focused on getting Mr. Josten to the hospital. We’ll make sure your name is given as his personal contact at the hospital and someone will speak with you there. Is there anything pertinent to Mr. Josten’s health that we should be aware of? Any allergies or previous injury that you know of?”

“Why the fuck are you asking _me_ that!? Why the fuck don’t you ask _him?_ ” He caught the keys when Katelyn tossed them to him and had one arm shoved into his coat before they were out the door. He took all three steps in a jump and jogged to the Maserati, already pressing the button on the fob to get it unlocked. 

“Mr. Josten is having some trouble communicating with us.” Aaron cursed, putting the phone on speaker the second he got into the car -- the last thing they needed was them getting into a fucking car wreck on the way to Darlington. Aaron really didn’t want to think about what Andrew would do if he came back to found his boyfriend, his brother, _and_ his car all in fucking pieces. 

“The only words he’s said at all were when he first called you,” the EMT was saying as Aaron snapped his seatbelt into place and glanced to make sure Katelyn had done the same before backing hurriedly out of the narrow, unfinished driveway. “Someone will be able to inform you more fully when you get here, when we all know more. Right now, you can help us greatly by telling me what you know about Mr. Josten’s medical history.” 

Aaron swallowed hard. Shit shit shit. He didn’t know this. If anyone knew about Josten’s medical history it would be _Andrew_ , they called the wrong fucking twin. 

Thankfully, Katelyn was a badass and spoke up for him, calm and cool and fucking indestructable. “We don’t know about Neil’s medical history, at least not regarding medications or past surgeries. As far as we know he doesn’t have any allergies, but he does have a long history of physical injury and you may need to be aware of pre-existing scar tissue.”

There was a brief pause and muted murmuring as the EMT said something away from the phone, then: “Thank you, miss. Mr. Josten nodded confirmation when I relayed what you said. Do you know where the hospital is?”

“Yes, thank you,” Katelyn said steadily. “We’ll get there as quickly as we can.”

Aaron barely registered any other parting platitudes, he was focusing on the road, testing the limits of the Maserati the second they hit the interstate. All he could think about was Neil bleeding out in a fucking ambulance somewhere and having to tell Andrew. _Fuck, Andrew…_ How was he going to tell Andrew about this? He had to. If it were Katelyn, he’d want someone to call him the very fucking second they heard she’d been hurt and yeah, he didn’t fucking _understand_ the relationship between Josten and his brother but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how big it was. Andrew loved that psycho little bastard, and Andrew didn’t _love_ easily. Andrew didn’t fucking _emotion_ easily -- except when it came to Neil.

No, when it came to _Neil_ , Andrew was like a different fucking person entirely. It was both subtle and excruciatingly obvious, because you had to know Andrew to see it happening -- but once you did, and once you knew what to look for? 

Yeah. 

They’d been on I-20 for maybe ten minutes when Katelyn’s voice, calm and steady, broke through his racing thoughts. 

“Aaron? Neil is going to be okay.” 

He looked over at her quickly, saw the worry in her eyes and the compassion in the way she nibbled her bottom lip, her hand still perfectly steady where it rested over his own on the gear shift. 

“I’m not worried about Josten. I don’t even like the guy.” The protests came too easy and felt weirdly awkward in his mouth, like sand on his tongue. It took him a full minute of Katelyn’s weighted stare and the flash of reflectors on the road before he recognized the taste of a lie. _Shit._

“I was just thinking about how Andrew is going to freak the fuck out. That’s all. So that idiot better be as ‘fine’ as he fucking likes to say he is.” This wasn’t actually a lie, but still sat uncomfortably like an untruth in the pit of his stomach. It had actually been a while since one of Josten’s ‘ _I’m fine_ ’s. Aaron didn’t want to think about that, though, nod did he want to think about the possibility that he might actually be legitimately worried about that loudmouthed, twitchy little asshole. To think that he and Josten might actually be… _friends_ was fucking disturbing as fucking… _fuck_.

Katelyn only hummed, and when he glanced at her he could see that she wasn’t buying it -- but he knew that if he tried to argue it any further he was only going to dig himself a deeper hole so he let it go. 

“You should wait to call him until we at least get to the hospital and find out more of what happened. It’s only going to worry him more if you call with next to no information other than that Neil was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.” She had a point.

Aaron took a slow breath in and then let it out. He felt the rumble of a rough laugh collect in his chest and let it out as he shook his head, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “Fuckin’ Josten. As long as he isn’t fucking dead I’m going to kill him for this. Ruining a perfectly good weekend.”

Katelyn squeezed his hand and he saw her smile tightly out of the corner of his eye, but she didn’t chastise him. She knew him well enough by now to know when he was just letting off steam. 

“Well I know I’m going to make him go through a whole day of Vixen practice with me for worrying me like this,” she contributed after a moment, and the sudden image of Neil in a sea of cheerleaders had Aaron snickering, a small bit of the weight lifting off his chest.

“Baby, I love you. Please get pictures.”

“Sweetheart, I’m taking fucking video.” He looked over and locked eyes with her, that too-sweet smile on her lips spelling trouble for the troublesome striker in a way that had Aaron feeling incredibly vindicated. 

“Katelyn you are literally the perfect woman.”

“I know.” She winked at him and he laughed, and _fuck_ \-- it was incredible how she had that effect on him. A few words, a _smile_ and it was like his whole world was gently tilted right back onto its axis when only a few minutes ago it had seemed like it was about to spin out of control. He would never understand how or why he ended up so fucking lucky to have her, and he would never stop being grateful for that grace of luck or fate or whatever it was that had brought them together. 

Aaron devoted his full attention back to the road, steadier than he’d been before.

\---

They arrived at the hospital in record time. Granted, the drive to Darlington was slightly shorter than the full ride all the way into Palmetto anyway, but Aaron hadn’t really been paying too much attention to traffic laws.

They were in the waiting room for twenty minutes before someone came out to talk to them, and they learned that Neil had been hit by a car while he’d been out running. Yeah, _hit by a fucking **car**_ while he’d been _out **running**_ , because Neil had to take every situation and make it eight and a half times deadlier just because he was a fucking asshole. After all, normal people got hit by a car when they were, you know, in another car -- surrounded by metal and wearing a seatbelt that could protect them from the impact. Not Neil fucking Josten! Nope! He got hit by a car while out running in fucking December because he was a right fucking lunatic, that’s what. 

Katelyn, because she was perfect, handled the conversation with the doctor. She asked all the right questions and Aaron spent the time translating the answers into what he would be able to tell Andrew without inadvertently causing some poor asshole’s murder secondhand. Or, you know, his own. 

This was difficult, seeing as Neil was hit by a fucking car and was now in surgery to repair multiple internal injuries. The only _good_ news the doctor seemed to have for them was that, by some fucking _miracle_ , it didn’t seem like Neil had sustained any head, neck, or spinal injuries -- though it seemed likely that he’d pulled several muscles in his back. Still, he was able to think of hopeful (if not exactly _positive_ ) spins for most of the other information that the doctor was able to give them before he had to return to the O.R. Neil’s surgery might take up to four more hours, so it looked like they were in for the night. 

While Katelyn saw about getting them something to eat, Aaron called up his brother -- he’d waited until he had news about Neil, but he wasn’t willing to wait until _after_ Neil got out of surgery to call him. Not if it was going to be four hours; four hours that, if he were in Andrew’s position, he’d be wanting to use to figure out the fastest fucking way to get back to South Carolina. 

Andrew picked up on the fourth ring. 

“If you are calling to cry to me about Katelyn dumping you, I am not interested in comforting you.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. At any other time he would probably be annoyed, but right now he just felt… uncomfortably concerned. He hated that Andrew was going to hear this over the fucking phone when he was in another _state_.

“No. Andrew…” he started, then hesitated, all his carefully constructed strategies to broach the topic flying right out of his fucking head. 

He apparently didn’t need to say anything, though, because Andrew must have heard it in his voice -- and he just… _knew_.

“What happened?” All traces of bored humor or brotherly irritation was _gone_. Instead, his twin’s voice was hard and alert and Aaron realized suddenly that he now knew the other man well enough to detect the sharp, almost desperate worry that was only barely being kept back behind a wall of cold stillness. 

_Start with the good news,_ he reminded himself. Then he said, with absolutely no fucking lead in: “Neil doesn’t have any brain or spinal injuries.”

“What the _fuck_ happened, Aaron?” Andrew’s temper had apparently vaulted over that wall like a fucking olympian, because he was now yelling. _Yelling._

Fuck. 

“Shit. No, Andrew. I mean. Look, we got a call from Josten. All he was able to say was that he needed us to meet him at the hospital, then an EMT took over and asked us about his medical history, which neither me nor Katelyn could fucking answer. I don’t know why your stupid boyfriend called me but now we’re at the hospital waiting for him to get out of surgery.” Wait, no. That wasn’t the part he wanted to emphasize! Too vague, too vague!

_Too late._

“What hospital? What happened? What the _fuck_ happened? _Tell me what happened to him._ ”

Aaron was suddenly back in time. It was March. They’d all just barely gotten themselves out of the fucking riot and were being treated by EMTs that had arrived on scene along with the authorities. One of them was missing. It was Neil, Neil was missing. And then Andrew had his hands around Kevin’s throat and all he would say, over and over again was: _”where!? where is he!?”_

Except this was different somehow. 

In March, Andrew had seemed possessed with cold, fierce rage as he _demanded_ his answers. He hadn’t needed his knives because every syllable had been a bladed threat, lashing outward on each and every word. Aaron remembered, because he’d heard that low, cold, growling tone before -- had heard it in his own nightmares for months after his mother died. It was the voice of a rampant, protective monster, ready to devour whatever dared come between Andrew and what he had arbitrarily decided was _his_. The first time Aaron had heard it, that demon had been pointed at his mother, keeping Aaron in its dangerously protective shadow, and when he’d heard it again -- this time directed at _Kevin_ and about _Neil_...?

Well, he hadn’t reacted too well. It had taken him months, in fact, and extra sessions with Bee, and a lot of support from Katelyn, and then -- more recently -- some long conversations with Andrew, before he was able to get closer to accepting the nature of that beast. 

But this? This was not that monster. 

This was a _man_ \-- and that man was _terrified_ , was _frantic_. _**Andrew**_ was terrified, was frantic. Because Neil was hurt and he didn’t know what had happened and how bad it was and he was so fucking far away. 

Aaron didn’t know why he was surprised. After all, he’d literally had the thought that he expected Andrew to be just as freaked out as he would be if it were Katelyn and, hearing Andrew, he knew that this was _exactly_ how he’d be if someone called him with the news that Katelyn had been hurt and was in the hospital. Peripherally realizing this and actually _hearing_ it, though, raw and shaking in Andrew’s voice like the other mand’s every nerve ending had suddenly been exposed…?

Aaron took a breath and found that right now, for this, for Andrew’s panic, he could be calm. 

“Hey, it’s going to be alright,” he said steadily, confidently. “Look, we just got done talking to the doctor. He’s in surgery now but they expect him to get through it just fine.” He heard Andrew draw in a breath that was _too damn shaky_ and Aaron continued on before his brother’s perfect memory combined with all sorts of worst-case-scenarios. “He was hit by a car while he was out running earlier tonight. Both his legs are fine but he fractured his pelvis and a few of his ribs are worse for wear, along with several pulled muscles. We asked the doctor about recovery and he said he’d give us more information when Neil was out of surgery but it looked good that he’d be able to make a full recovery.”

On the other end of the line, Andrew was so still that Aaron couldn’t even hear him breathing, but he could picture the white-knuckled grip he was sure his brother had on the phone.

“Andrew, listen to me. Katelyn and I are going to stay here at the hospital and I’ll call you as soon as I have more information, alright? You’ll know everything that’s going on as soon as I do.” He bit back the instinctive ‘ _i promise_ ’ that wanted to rise to his lips at the end. He and Andrew had a shaky history with _promises_ and something told him that bringing it up now would do more harm than good. 

There were a few more heavy beats of silence, then: “I will be on the first plane out.”

Aaron let out a slow breath and relaxed back into his chair. He realized that his hand was aching from how tightly he’d been gripping the phone and he forced himself to loosen it enough to return blood flow to his fingertips. “Alright. If you’re in the air when I get more info and you don’t pick up I’ll send everything I know in text so you’ll get it as soon as you land.”

Another silence, and Aaron could _see_ the terse nod his brother was giving him before remembering that, being on the phone, Aaron wasn’t able to see him. “Right,” Andrew said tightly. “As soon as I have a flight I’ll text you the details.”

“And I’ll make sure Neil knows you’re coming.” It felt weird to say, the words bunching awkwardly on his tongue before they were even out, but he made himself continue, knowing he’d need to hear it over and over again if their situations were reversed, “It’s going to be alright, Andrew.”

Andrew didn’t respond, and after another heavy silence there was a sudden vacancy. When Aaron looked at the screen the time of the call was blinking, the call ended. 

Unsurprised and knowing better than to be offended, Aaron sighed and slipped the phone into his pocket before going to find Katelyn. All there was to do now -- was wait.

\---

Almost five hours later they finally got another update. Apparently, there’d been some internal bleeding that had caused a complication with the initial surgery, but the doctors had ‘ _patched it all up, so he should be right as rain now_ ’. Aaron couldn’t help but think that these people were incredibly fucking lucky that Andrew was probably somewhere over Alabama right now, because he just _knew_ that that shit wouldn’t fly with his brother.

He sent off a quick text to let Andrew know that they’d gotten an update and that Neil wasn’t out of surgery yet but it seemed like he would be soon. He had decided to hedge a little and didn’t bring up the internal bleeding bit. 

Besides, in the intervening hours he had also informed Nicky and Coach about what had happened. Naturally, between the two of them the rest of the foxes were also informed and so when he got that particular update there plenty of others to promise violence in Andrew’s stead. No one actually got stabbed, so Andrew might be a little disappointed -- but he figured Josten would be pleased by the language being tossed around on his behalf. 

It was close to two in the morning by the time Neil was finally out of surgery and had been taken to a room. They were told that his vitals were completely stable and he’d been moved to a room where he’d be kept under observation throughout the rest of the night. As none of them were his immediate family, none of them were going to be able to see him until visiting hours tomorrow. This was probably the most controversial thing the doctor had said yet.

Aaron was loathe to admit it, but he was pretty fucking impressed by Allison in particular.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You can’t reduce family down to fucking _blood_ what the literal fucking hell are you on!? _We_ are his family, you slimy little shit.” She stood tall and proud and viciously angry, her heels cutting into the tile as she took three sharp steps toward the doctor, her chin tilted up triumphantly when he cowered appropriately under her scrutiny. 

“Miss, there’s a very good reason we have these rules in place. Now, it’s very late. I’m sure you all will want to get some rest. You can come see your friend during visiting hours tomorrow.” The whole diplomatic approach might have had more of an effect if the man wasn’t quaking in his metaphorical boots. Aaron offhandedly wished he’d thought to take a video -- both Josten and his brother would have gotten a kick out of it. 

“No,” Allison hissed, jabbing an incredibly sharp, incredibly fluorescent pink fingernail in his direction that she definitely hadn’t had when they’d played their last game against Belmonte last week. “You listen to me, you--”

“Ally, I’m sure the doctor is just trying to abide by hospital protocol. These things are in place for the well-being of the majority, I’m sure.” Renee had her hand resting on Allison’s arm as she stepped smoothly around the viper of a dealer. Her expression was calm and sweet and very… _Renee_ , and Aaron could see the doctor relaxing. 

“Doctor…?” she looked at him pleasantly in question, and the man smiled gratefully at her.

“Everette. Dr. Everette. Yes, miss. We have these protocols in place for good reason. You’ll all be able to see Mr. Josten tomorrow during visiting hours. I’m sure…” He drifted off as Renee shook her head.

Smile pleasant, she continued her gentle interruption. “Sorry, Dr. Everette. I understand you have reasons for your rules, but Neil is going to be an exception to them. We _are_ his family, in every way that counts, and Neil has had some very negative experiences with hospitals. Someone should be allowed to stay with him so he isn’t alone when he wakes up from surgery. I’m sure you’d never want to inadvertently cause your patient distress after major surgery.”

“Well I… I mean, of course not. I--”

“Thank you, Dr. Everette. We won’t cause trouble.” 

Dumbfounded, the doctor nodded and looked around at the gathered group. “Mr. Josten should be settled in. I can show whoever is staying where the room is…?”

There was an instant clamor and Aaron was expecting Renee or maybe Abby to step in with a logical solution but it was actually Katelyn that cleared her throat, her voice that cut across the chatter. 

“Aaron and I will stay.” It wasn’t a question or an offer, it was a _fact_. She met Allison’s vividly offended glower and _smiled_ and fuck if Aaron didn’t fall in love with her all over again. 

“Why the fuck would you two stay? Aaron _hates_ Neil.” Normally, Allison and Katelyn got along well enough -- they weren’t best friends or anything but they were definitely more friendly than _that_ tone implied, but Aaron didn’t even begin to think he understood the way of women and their packs. 

Katelyn didn’t seem bothered by the whiplash of the other woman’s tone, though. She just continued calmly, though with a bit more bite than Renee had used earlier with the doctor. “Neil called us. Aaron is in contact with Andrew, and _he’s_ the one who’s going to stay with Neil as soon as his plane lands.”

There was grumblings of more protest and Aaron was tired and annoyed and ready to be fucking done with this conversation so he broke in with what he was pretty sure would settle the matter.

“Katelyn is fluent in sign language.”

Everyone, from Katelyn to the Coach, looked at him. There were a variety of expressions to go around, from shock to confusion to open understanding (Katelyn and Renee). For those too stupid to get it, Aaron continued slowly, letting some of the dry condescention his brother was so damn good at creep into his own tone. “Josten is going to wake up and maybe be freaked out and Katelyn is the only one here right now who he’s going to be able to talk to if he can’t manage to fucking speak. Or are you guys so stupid you’ve forgotten about his issue with talking? I don’t know about you, but if I suddenly woke up in a hospital after being run over by a fucking car I’d be pretty fucking stressed.”

He glared at Allison, then looked to Coach, before skimming his gaze around at the rest of the foxes to make sure they got it. He was looking at Allison again when he added, “And I don’t hate Neil. I don’t _like_ him most of the time. That’s different.”

There was a beat of silence, then Dan sighed. “Well, that’s fair. I mean, Neil is a bit of an asshole.”

Just like that, the tension dissolved. There were chuckles of agreement and a gasped protest from Matt ( _“My Neil isn’t an asshole, you fiend!”_ ) but it seemed like the matter was settled. Though this did bring up a matter that most of the foxes had been eager to avoid less they be volunteered for something unsavory:

“So, I mean, have you _told_ Andrew about this?” Matt asked.

Aaron gave him a look that he hoped conveyed how fucking stupid that question was. “I called him first. He’s on a plane now and it should be landing…” he checked his watch “...in the next hour and a half, give or take.”

The doctor cleared his throat and they all looked at him. “I’ll show you his room, then.” Apparently, Doctor Whatever-his-name-was was unamused and tired of waiting, and maybe a bit miffed at how he’d just been played by a collegiate athlete, because his tone was clipped and short. 

Aaron was tired enough to want to snark back, but Katelyn had her arm around his waist and was already nodding. “Yes, thank you Dr. Everette.” She looked over at the foxes. “We’ll text you if anything else happens or if he wakes up, just so you know, okay?”

The others exchanged their gratitudes and farewells, which Aaron mostly just ignored. He rested his head on Katelyn’s shoulder and sighed, waiting. He might have even started to nod off a bit because the next thing he knew, Katelyn was jostling him lightly and then they were following after the doctor. The took the elevator up to the third floor and he really hoped that Katelyn was paying attention to the various turns they made along the way because he definitely wasn’t and each hallway looked exactly the same. 

They’d put Neil in a tiny room at the very end of the hall where there was barely enough room for the bed, the various monitors with all their dials, knobs, and blinking lights, and two chairs. The doctor didn’t try to come into the room with them, only left them just inside the door with quiet orders not to disturb him or try to wake him up, and that if he _did_ wake up to call for the nurse either by going to the nurses’ station they’d passed on their way down the hall or by pressing the call button built into Neil’s hospital bed. 

It was kinda surreal and, weirdly, it wasn’t the bruises and the bandages that had Aaron hovering awkwardly by the door as Katelyn hurried forward to claim one of the chairs by the bed. Aaron had seen Neil last March when he’d come into that hotel room in Baltimore. He’d seen the raw wounds on his face and hands when he’d turned around after Andrew had systematically unwrapped him. He’d _seen_ that horror and it had made him feel fucking sick. But this was different. 

In a way, it was worse. 

Back in Baltimore, Neil had been slashed to fucking ribbons. He’d looked like someone had literally tried to _take him apart_. The burns, the cuts, it had been… fucking awful. But right now Neil looked _lifeless_. His face was covered in bruises that made the scars on his face seem to glow, and what skin that wasn’t covered in scars or bruises seemed sickly and pale in a pallor that Neil just couldn’t achieve naturally. The wounds were less garish, yeah, but they were also… so fucking _real_ and uncomfortbly familiar.

_He remembered looking in the mirror, after a bad day._

_He remembered digging in the medicine cabinet. His hand around the narrow orange bottle, his thumb popping open the cap._

_He remembered staring across a hallway into a face that looked like his, wearing bruises meant for him._

_He remembered angry eyes. He remembered fear and hope mixing in his stomach, curdling painfully because they just couldn’t mix._

_He remembered sirens, cutting through the thunder._

Aaron blinked, shook his head, and pushed the thoughts away as he forced himself to step all the way into the room and shut the door behind him. As he got closer to the bed he noted that in addition to looking sad and dead and beaten and broken, Neil looked… so fucking _small_. Not that Neil was a giant or anything. The guy was a scrawny sort of rat, narrower than him and his brother though he only had a few extra inches on them. 

Again, Aaron was struck with how much he looked like some kid that’d ruthlessly had the shit kicked out of him. Even when they’d come back from New York last year and found him beaten to shit there hadn’t been this… vulnerability about him. Then again, Aaron didn’t think he’d ever actually seen Neil asleep during that time. 

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think he’d ever actually seen Neil asleep _at all_.

He felt like he was intruding. This was a side of Neil that he wasn’t supposed to see. This was something he wasn’t supposed to even know existed. Neil was an asshole, indestructible for all that he was constantly attracting his own destruction and this… this was _too real_ and he didn’t like it. Aaron had spent so much energy actively disliking Neil and resenting his existence that even now that they were on better terms, this… all of this… it just felt wrong. 

“Aaron?” He jumped at Katelyn’s voice, snapping his gaze to her. He realized he’d been frozen at the end of the bed, just staring. Katelyn was looking at him in concern, her eyes tired and her mouth tense with worry and fatigue.

Aaron went to her, setting both hands on her shoulders and massaging gently as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Sorry. It’s just… weird. Seeing him like this.”

Katelyn gave a soft groan and leaned into his hands, and even with the somber mood he had to smile. She tilted her head back to look up at him, her lips turned up in a small smile of understanding. “I know what you mean,” she agreed with a nod. “But he’s going to be okay.” She let out a small sigh and looked back on the bruised boy laid out on the hospital bed. “Have you texted Andrew? You should warn him, you know? That he looks… rough.”

“I need to text him still to let him know he’s out of surgery. I’ll give him the warning in person when I pick him up from the airport.” Aaron shook his head, thinking about how _he_ would obsess if he knew that Katelyn was lying in a hospital bed. Andrew didn’t need extra time with details he couldn’t do anything about. 

Katelyn nodded and Aaron sent off the text to Andrew to let him know that Neil was out of surgery and in recovery, that he and Katelyn were staying with him and that the rest of the foxes had returned to campus for the night. Then, because there was still a little while before he needed to be at the airport to pick up Andrew, he took the other chair and pulled Katelyn into his lap, needing just to hold her for a while.

\---

Aaron had completely forgotten about Kevin until he showed up at the airport to find him waiting anxiously with Andrew at Arrivals. But, well, there he was. And predictably, the very first thing out of his damn mouth when he got into the car was: “How bad is it? Will he be able to play?”

Ignoring him, Andrew focused on his brother. Andrew was the only person Aaron had ever met who could manage to be incredibly intense and terrifyingly blank at the exact same time. Though the instances of this had severely decreased during the two and a half years he’d been on that medication, from the moment he’d returned it had been clear he hadn’t lost his touch. Right now was a prime example of exactly how he could be. It was a stark contrast to the panicked man on the phone when Aaron had first called him, but unlike what he might have done a year ago, right now he knew very well that just because he couldn’t _see_ the worry and the fear and the _feeling_ , that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. 

“Aaron, come on. This is important,” Kevin insisted from the backseat. 

Aaron only gave him a quick glance in the rearview, then put the car in drive and started them on the trip back to the hospital. He didn’t say anything until they hit the highway, getting his thoughts in careful order.

“The doctor said that he’ll have at least a six to eight week recovery, because of the bone fractures. Otherwise, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to play normally for the rest of the season.” He glanced briefly at Andrew, then focused on the road. “He looked rough, though. So be prepared for that.”

Andrew said nothing. Kevin made an anxious sound in the back, but not about Aaron’s warning. “Six to eight weeks? He’ll miss the first few games of the season. He’ll be incredibly behind. He--”

“Kevin.” Andrew’s voice was hard but it was quiet. Just loud enough to cut the striker off. 

Aaron expected the backseat asshole to argue, or just ignore Andrew, so he was surprised enough to glance in the rearview when Kevin fell silent for a moment then continued as if Andrew’s quiet reprimand had flicked some kind of a switch, saying: “We’ll get him through it.”

It was _bizarrely_ supportive and seemed so out of left fucking field that Aaron glanced from Kevin’s reflection over to his brother and back again. He was tempted to ask what the fuck was going on, but decided it was probably better if he just let it go. Maybe Andrew had already talked to him. He’d had plenty of time to do so, after all.

The rest of the drive was completely silent. Aaron had a massive headache from the intensity of the evening coupled with lack of sleep so he didn’t even bother to turn on the music and neither of the other two seemed to care. It was just that they were pulling into the parking lot at the hospital that his phone buzzed with a message. He checked it once they were out of the car and heading up to the doors, slowing in his step to shoot back a quick reply.

“It was Katelyn,” Aaron said when Andrew glanced at him. He couldn’t help noting the way that all of his twin’s quiet focus landed directly on the phone in his hand the second he said the words. He felt it like a physical weight, an anvil crushing into his palm. “Neil’s awake.”

“Where?” Other than his bisyllabic reprimand toward Kevin in the car, it was the first time his brother had spoken since he’d picked him up at the airport. 

Aaron nodded toward the hospital. “Come on, I’ll take you.” He led the both of them through the doors and over to the elevators. Once they hit the third floor he was thankful that he’d taken the time on his way out when he’d left for the airport to pay attention to the signs on each corner so that he was able to lead them there without getting lost. They got to the room and Aaron opened the door but stayed out in the hall, stepping to the side to let Andrew breeze past him. 

Inside the room, Neil was sitting up slightly on the bed, his hands moving weakly as he ‘spoke’ to Katelyn. He only looked slightly less dead even now that he was awake, at least until he looked over and saw Andrew. His eyes widened, _life_ returned to his face, and then he gave a small smile that was so _easy_ and _relaxed_ despite the pain it must have caused to make. Relief, _love_ \-- Aaron knew what he was witnessing here even if Andrew stubbornly refused to admit it. 

Katelyn murmured something to Andrew that Aaron couldn’t hear but he saw his brother nod, then he took over Katelyn’s place beside the bed as she rose and moved to join Aaron in the doorway. Her arms came around him, and he indulged the both of them by hugging her tightly. It was as they pulled away that his gaze caught on his brother again and he went still at the sight, even holding his breath as if any small shift in the air could break the moment he’d inadvertently peered into. 

Andrew had perched on the edge of the bed and was holding Neil’s face in his hands as if the other man were something precious and terribly, terribly fragile. His thumbs brushed over bruises as his eyes scanned every injury he could see. Neither of them were speaking, but Aaron hadn’t expected them to. Still, they somehow seemed to be communicating. Aaron thought… it was almost, _almost_ , like he could hear what they were saying in the weight of care hanging in the air around them, something so strong it was filling the entire room. 

_I was scared,_ Andrew seemed to say with his searching eyes and light touches. _I was afraid I’d lost you._

 _I’m right here,_ it looked like Neil was reassuring him, said in the way he leaned closer, in the set of his face and the light touch of his fingers to the back of Andrew’s hand. 

Aaron watched as Andrew took a slow, deep breath like he was breathing again for the first time since he’d gotten the phone call hours and hours ago. He watched as Neil sifted one hand through his brother’s hair. He watched as, instead of flinching away, his brother melted into the touch on a sigh, resting their foreheads together before allowing Neil to pull him closer, so Andrew’s face was hidden against the battered boy’s neck. He watched as Neil held his brother close, he watched as Andrew took it as _comfort_. When Andrew took another deep breath and pulled back, cupping Neil’s face again, Aaron felt a very odd, wary and uncomfortable sort of relief at the sight of the brief, chaste kiss that the two shared. 

It was that unexpected sentiment, rather than the far more familiar flash of awkward discomfort or disgust, that had Aaron looking away. He ended up looking down at Katelyn, to see that she’d also been watching, and she also was looking away at the same time. Their eyes met and Katelyn smiled at him and _there it was_ \-- that warmth, that glow in his chest that had her name singing in every particle of light. He felt himself soften and he leaned up slightly to kiss her before they mutually turned and slipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind them. 

“They’re going to be alright,” Katelyn said quietly, as if the energy of the room had followed them out into the hall and she didn’t want to break it.

Aaron was nodding in agreement before he chose to do so, and he realized that _there_ was the root of that odd, uncomfortable relief. This whole thing had been fucking terrifying, on multiple fronts -- but everything was going to be alright. 

Well, mostly.

He gave a sigh and grimaced, looking from Kevin, who was hovering awkwardly on the other side of the hall, to Katelyn. 

“What?” she asked with a small laugh at his expression. 

“Nothing. Just. Fuck, Josten is going to be my fucking brother-in-law, isn’t he?”

Katelyn laughed again, the sound brighter and free. “Babe, if you’re just now realizing this we need to work on your observation skills.”

He poked her in the side, glaring at her affectionately as she continued to snicker at his expense. “Come on,” he said then, including Kevin with a glance and a nod of his head, “let’s get the fuck out of here. We’ll bring up Andrew’s bag and pop it into the room, but then I’m going to fucking _sleep_.”

No one had any arguments to that.

**Author's Note:**

> If you feel like you're still missing pieces, fret not -- there's an Andrew POV regarding this situation coming soon. *hearts*


End file.
